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The night wind blows mighty at the rooftops of the the buildings that cast their looming shadow at the alleys of the old downtown district. The few beings who know the truth about what lies beyond this world, as well as the beings of the realm of red dipped dreams prowl the streets of the city and mixed melody of their nocturnal struggles and the sounds of the neversleeping city create a symphony that is almost impossible to forget. Nested amidst alleys that connect the old red brick buildings of the once glorious economic heart of Sonomachi lies the Dangeki Pawn Shop, the main office for members of the Hunter's Associoation of the city, and not too far away from there the Red Cloud music store, Headquarters of the Youkai Junction, both places of importance for the Chasers and Youkai alike.

In this scenery that looks like straight out of a film noire, or an anime, a woman walked "Meet me at Dangeki, a lead on Efreet whereabouts has finally appeared" she said to her other partners over the her phone, jus t a few seconds before stepping inside the store.

"Yo, Kusanagi! It's been a while, right?" Reiko said when she gazed upon the youngish looking Chaser. In fact, the last time The Scarlet Sage set her feet in Sonomachi was around half a year ago, but now she returned to search for a particular Youkai that had been evading her for quite a time now. A fire starter known only by the moniker of Efreet.

While she waited for Kusagai's reply, Reiko let her eyes wander around the Dangeki's innards staring curiously at the many oddities that Kusanagi had collected throughout the years, until her gaze fell naturally on a rather messy bulletin board. On it various pieces of paper advertised many things, including a few jobs for whatever Chaser was up to take them.

The girl with the long coat that acted as Dangeki's primary pawnbroker turned to see a familiar face. Kusanagi placed the rare assortments of glass items she was holding and crossed her arms with a small smirk. Yes, how long had it been since she had laid eyes on Asamiya Reiko? Too long in the pawnbroker's opinion and she walked up to meet her fellow Chaser and close associate.

"Yeah it has been. And what I can do for my favorite fire starter? Oh, but keep it down, eh? I got Ikkime and her sidekick sleeping out in back and you know how the fox gets when she's cranky," Kusanagi said.

Ikkime groaned and sat up in her bed, holding her hands against her temple, lifting the covers, Eleanor slept sound asleep next to her "What in the...god dammit Ele wake up~" she pushed on the girls arm and Eleanor rolled over facing her and pushing herself up with one arm, using the other to rub her eye

"Onee-Chan, what's wrong?" Ikkime's fox ears went down and she put her face in her hands.

"You have a bed Eleanor, that was the whole reason we came to bother Kusan-Chan...ah forget it, my head hurts to much to char about this whole thin-" lifting the blankets, she saw Eleanor had no pants on ["ELE! JESUS PUT SOME UNDERWEAR ON AT LEAST" she said falling out of the bed and Eleanor looking at her legs blankly and tilting her head confused. Ikkime threw the blanket at her "just...you're my little sister, we're close but I'm not ready to see my grown little sister naked, not my thing..." she turned and put her hoodie on over her big shirt and walked out of the room, her tail whipping back and forward behind her. Eleanor quickly followed, her shirt collar hanging off her shoulder and her stretching.

"No...well of course sis...Onee wouldn't like that...I'll as-"

"No." Ikkime turned and stopped and Eleanor walked right into her not paying attention "None of that in the morning today, if Lilith wants to talk to me, she ca-"

"Sis said eat a fat one..." Eleanor still keeping her composure and monotone voice, Ikkime rolled her eyes "Come on, lets get a move on, see if Kusan-Chan needs help like she did last week" Eleanor simply nodded. They moved towards the front and Ikkime's ears twitched back and forward, yelling from the back "I heard that you ass!" Eleanor walked in after her and quickly took a seat up on the counter, kicking her feet back and forward. Ikkime walked up next to the two "Thanks for letting us sleep here last night, Eleanor really got us into trouble."

"Lilith said you're a liar Onee."

"She says a lot of things about me...but anyways we were gunna come see if you needed help but it seems you already have someone here, nice to see you again Rei" she smiled and held hand out to shake the woman's hand.

"I'm just looking for clues on Efreet's whereabouts. Last time I heard, they said it was coming to Sonomachi" Reiko said, replying to Kusanagi's first question but lifted an eyebrow at the mention of Ikkime "So, the DEG is back home too? Talk about a good time to come back."

When the sisters came in the store front and greeted Reiko, the Scarlet Sage replied with a firm handshake "You two seem to be going well. Where Eos? She couldn't avoid the stalkers again?"

"Seems to be that way," Kusanagi replied before the fox Youkai herself showed up. "Hey, no problem. You two are sort of my best customers at the moment so feel free to crash here as much as you want," she continued to Ikkime and Eleanor with a wave of her hand.

Right about that time, the bell attached to the front door rang, announcing another newcomer, this time a white haired girl dressed in a goth dress. Anyone who could see would know that she's Eos Shiroihime, a musician so talented that she earned the moniker of Nipponese Guitar Goddess and was more than once compared to legends of the guitar by many magazines and critics. She's also the vocalist and de facto leader of the idol band Dangeki Electric Girls, that began their course to stardom as a garage band meant to promote the Dangeki Pawn Shop's sales.

"Good evening, Kusa-nee and you too, girls. It's been a while..." Eos said as she greeted Kusanagi, Ikkime and Eleanor. When her gaze fell upon Reiko, the Electric Princess gasped before saying "Oh, Reiko-san is here too? How queer."

"Oh, Eos? I had just asked the sisters about you. You look as cute as ever in that outfit, by the way." Reiko retributed Eos' greeting before moving to the bulletin board "Are you still search for you father?" she added.

"Yes, actually I came back to meet a person who might know about him" Eos answered before producing an African looking tribal mask from seemingl nowhere and giving it to Kusanagi "Would you like it, Kusa-ne?" she asked. "I got it during a shown of our African tour and I thought that you migh like it."

Kusanagi frowned as she took a hold of the mask, turning it in her grasp as she observed the strange thing. Eos' method of carrying around stray items for her observation and study never did surprise her as much as the actual items themselves. The pawnbroker looked up and gave Eos a semi-serious look.

"Can you tell me any more details about how you got this Eos-san? It's manmade by humans but it also has stray traces of Youkai on it as well."

Ikkime smiled and crossed her arms, her tail waving amused "It seems Eos-Chan has finally come back, and all i get is that lame ass statement, come here~" she opened her arms and waved her for a hug.

Eleanor whistled one of the songs DEG made "Yeah I know sis...right? I think it's pretty cool to...fuck what? Oh...." she jumped down and walked next to Reiko looking at a particular couple of posters "Huh...I know it's the same name...who knows...that's not very nice Sis..."

"I gosh ish from a fan" Eos answered Kusanagi's question while she was being smothered by Ikkime and her cuddle bug tendencies "Bush when I tried ish he shaid shome shtrange words" Eos reproduced the man's words, anyone familiar enough with the supernatural would recognize as some sort of magic incantation followed by a rather dirty curse when he noticed it didn't worked.

"Oh, I know that one" Reiko said, lifting her eyes from the mission board "You're lucky your not human, Eos, or else he would have transformed you in a zombie" Reiko pointed for Kusanagi to check the mask more closely. In fact, it was a voodoo mask that is used to turn people in living zombie-like servants, to do the mage's biding.

"Hmm. Well that's one more thing I can't pawn off to the public," Kusanagi said, taking the mask out back and storing it in her personal storage rooms. Actually, there were quite a few items in there that she wouldn't trust any human or Youkai to use. When she returned, she caught Reiko's eyes scanning the mission board.

- Rank B: Wanted (Efreet), reward 50000. More information can be acquired at the contractor's office. -The Youkai Junction.

- Rank B: Wanted (Suzumebachi), reward 50000. More information can be acquired at the contractor's office. -The Youkai Junction.

- Rank ??: 'Sup, man? Got a good deal for you. If you wanna see it come meet me at the old industrial district at the Warehouse 13. It's first come first serve, so be quick.

- Rank A: Escort. Bodyguards are needed to protect a VIP during an Association meeting, reward 1000000 per person. More information can be aquired with the local representative of the Association at the Dangeki Pawn Shop. -The Hunters' Association.

- Rank SS: Dead, Something has been killing multiple chasers who have been crossing over to the crimson world to go on victim retrieval runs. However it seems whatever is killing them leaves the victim, so that it can draw more chasers out to retrieve. Do not under any circumstance go on retrievals with out a senior chaser in the current area, reward is to be determined -The Hunter Association.

- Rank SSS: Dead or Alive (Unknown), Massive disturbances along the border of the Crimson Sky and the human realm. Stop the cause at all costs. Do not engage without extreme caution. Reward has yet to be determined. May include a cute parasol. -The Hunter's Association.

Only a few were listed up at the moment, the penultimate mission was ranked a level SS while the final one was given the unholy mark of rank SSS. Kusanagi could say from experience that missions like those were a pain in the ass. The pawnbroker had a good idea of who or what was the source of those missions but she paid no mind to it ow.

"Anything catch your interest Reiko?"

"Like I said, I'm after the Efreet" Reiko said after finishing her current cigarette and lighting another almost in sequence "I've been searching for him for almost 6 months, I won't let he escape me again" she blowed some smoke at the board "Though I'm not in this for the money"

"When are you ever are?" Kusanagi commented with a smirk. "Still, the night is young. I expect we'll be recieving quite the number of guests tonight who want their share in the missions. Nights like tonight make me wish this place was a cafe or something. You can only satisfy so many guests with just plain tea."

Outside of the pawnshop lounging next to his cycle was Cole, unlike the person he was protecting he didn't smoke, he was leaning on one of the handle bars with one hand and in the other he was checking his pistol keeping maintenance up on the firearm to be ready for anything. He knew that if anything happened Reiko could handle it, but it didn't hurt to have some back up once in a while, and after teaching her how to drive and shoot, he felt almost like her teacher in a way or a guardian.

When he felt that Reiko was finished her cigarette he went inside only to be greeted with more cigarette smoke in the air, Cole didn't say anything as he waved smoke out of his face and moved over to. Reiko's keeping a scowl on his face due to all of the smoke, the guy didn't speak to Kusanagi keeping to himself and crossing his arms, he was sticking to Reiko's side now and wasn't going back outside unless she was now.

Eleanor watched as she was completely stepped in front of by the man, as she was virtually invisible to people not aware of others in the room. "Oh...uh...sir? Um...I was...Sis I'm not gunna say that...I...nevermind..." she moved to the side of him and continued looking at the mission board. Ikkime let go of Eos and laughed, before looking over to Eleanor and crossed her arms.

Walking over to her "Oi, you cant let people walk all over you Ele, you say excuse me I was standing here"

"No really Onee-Chan...it's okay I just...moved to the side...it's not a big deal..." she tried to motion for Ikkime to not make it a big deal but she didn't budge.

"No, say it to him, I'm not moving until you do it" she stared at Eleanor, the two having a seemingly intense staring contest.

Eleanor broke eye contact and sighed "Excuse me?...Um..sir...I was standing...there" she looked down and Ikkime put a hand through her hair in anger.

"How is anyone going to respect you if you can't stick up for yourself?" Ikkime looked at Cole "I apologize if it seems I'm being rude, I am simply trying to teach my little sister how to stick up for herself, I am Ikkime Oi, Bassist for DEG, and Senior Chaser, pleasure to make to met you" she put a hand out to shake his hand.

Cole didn't speak back to Ikkime nor did he even acknowledge Eleanor's words or her in general, he looked at Ikkime as she held her hand out and shook her hand quickly and firmly before turning and and crossing his arms once again, he let out a light cough from the smoke in the air and covered his mouth when he coughed.

"Interesting guy you have here Reiko, the real quiet type it seems, well Im going to call you Mr.Silent since you didn't give a name and Im going to assume your a chaser" turning on her heels her cat tail waved and she motioned for Eleanor to follow her, before they stepped off to the side "Listen you cant let people walk all over you, I know for sure Lilith would not have that...I also know Lilith would have probably killed him just for ignoring her, you can't let her out, so you gotta stand up for yourself, Im not always going to be around to save you and you can rely on Lilith, understand me Ele?"

"Wait...can you repeat that again?...Sis was saying something and I zoned out..sorry..." Ikkime flicked her on the forehead and Eleanor winced in pain, putting her hand on her face "what was that for Onee-Chan...that hurt..."

"It wasn't suppose to tickle dammit..."

As the others seemed to be interacting amongst themselves, Kusanagi sighed. Well then. She might as well rally the rest of the lot since they had a number of orders to fufill. Digging in her coat pocket for her cellphone on hand, Kusanagi pressed a few buttons before sending out a mass text to all of the Chasers in the area. A meeting at Kusanagi's was always a delight, though she still wished the place was a cafe shop. Oh well.

"Better get in the back and break out the tea packets and snacks Ikkime," she called out to the other Chaser. "You know how the crowd gets on nights like this."

"Wait, Ikki-nyan, I'll help you!" Eos said a little before bowing lightly to those present and following Ikkime to the back of the shop.

Meanwhile, Reiko had just finished checking on what interested her and thus, turned to face Kusanagi "I'd better get going now, I think. It does no good for the youngsters to have more than a couple of veterans like us around, but" she stole a glance of the board just once more "the night is but a child. How knows where, or when we shall meet next time?" The Scarlet Sage patted Eleanor in the head on her way out and said "Don't worry, Elle, your sister only acts like this because she wants the best for you. That's what we, older sisters, live for anyway, to ensure our younger siblings happiness."

A little before she passed the threshold into the street, Reiko turned to Cole and beckoned him to follow her "Let's meet with Yuudai, I'm sure that she'll like the place we are going next..."

Tsuyoshi was in his bedroom, playing video games like any normal 17 year old would, but Tsuyoshi wasn't normal. Tonight, he would take another venture into the Crimson Skies, hopefully finding this damned Hunter Association he's heard so much about. Although, there's supposed to be a meeting at Kusanagi's tonight, at least, he heard word of anyways. Tsuyoshi's cell beeped twice, so the young boy put down the controller and read the text. He grinned with excitement as he put the phone in his pocket and turned off the other electronics in his room.

Tsuyoshi had assumed that most Chasers were a part of the Hunter's Association, but he had never heard anything officially. So, the young Chaser decided to take it upon himself to join up. With his katana now firmly strapped to his waist, Tsuyoshi headed out of his house and onto the streets. Tsuyoshi did have to quickly type in the address into his phone's GPS system but nonetheless he was on his way. Tsuyoshi wondered about the tasks he would take on tonight, because he sure as hell wasn't going to sit around and do nothing. Tsuyoshi really looked forward to tonight, as it might be his first steps into the Hunter's Association, and he might get to fight some Youkai again. His last fight was a real bore.

Sooner or later, Tsuyoshi made it to what was apparently Kusanagi's door and with a brief exhale he knocked on the door three times.

The little tavern was out of the way, Cinwi had made sure of that. At the outskirts of the city only drifters and regulars would enter, and its distance from the proper civilization is what made it feel safe to her. It was easier to move freely when there were less people, less chance of getting recognized, in fact when she was absolutely alone and could meander about naturally it was incredibly relieving. However she was not the nature type, and despite the fairly blank status of the tavern, she wore her hood and clothes that covered her extremities nonetheless. One too many times had she taken low population for granted, and when it had nearly cost her her life at the hands of a chaser far more skilled than she was, Cinwi knew that chances were not something she was well-stocked with.

Even still, dragons needed to eat and drink just like everyone else. Well okay maybe that was dependent but still, isolation drove her crazy. She hated being secluded and alone almost as much as she hated...a lot of things, come to think of it. It was hard for her to put the things that angered her in order, the numbers too vast and the degrees too varied. So instead she didn't think about it, instead she walked into the little tavern, took a seat at the counter, and kept her head lowered as the barkeep approached.

"Water, no ice," she said before he could ask her order.

Her eyes went around the room to the three or four people --counting the keep-- that inhabited it. One she could tell was Youkai, one was most certainly human, and the other was hard to discern. She'd seen weird looking chasers before, could have been one of them. But then, it could just have easily have been a more humanoid Youkai, like herself. Aside from the claws, scales, and blue skin of course. Okay perhaps not like herself entirely, but the point remained. Often when she entered a place the humans were the first to eye her, but the chaser seemed disinterested. It was the Youkai that looked curious, and as soon as she met his eyes she turned back around to face the counter. A lump formed in her throat but she kept herself in check, panic would only make it worse.

The keep set her water down and went back to his business. Cinwi had to hold it carefully so as not to scratch it with her claws, but that worry was soon shoved aside when she saw that, upon closing her fingers around it the water had already begun to chill. A deep breath filled her lungs, then another, however many it would take to steady herself.

"Dammit, fuck...come on..." she muttered, bringing the glass to her lips only to pull it back a moment later. Her breath had nearly formed a thin layer of ice on the top of the drink. "Okay that's bullshit, why can't I do that when I fucking want to do it..."

Despite her drink, it was the footsteps behind her that brought a chill up her spine. Sure enough, the Youkai man took the seat next to her, his eyes drifting from the chilled glass to her. He wasn't anything too alarming, humanoid like her, with horns on his head and tusks in his mouth. He let out a huff before he spoke, his voice rugged and earthy.

"Looks pretty cold."

"Yeah," she mumbled in response.

"How'd it get that way with no ice?"

"Do I look like a fuckin' mixologist to you?" Cinwi bit her tongue almost as soon as the words left her mouth, and though an apology might have salvaged the situation, no such thing came forth. Instead she just sat there, wound up tense and tight, waiting. She didn't try and stop him from yanking her hood off, merely shutting her eyes in aggravation. Stupid Cinwi, stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Yer Naroth's bitch."

"My name is C--" a surprisingly strong hand gripped her narrow throat, and before she knew it she was hoisted out of the seat and dangling in the air like a rag doll. The Youkai man said something to the barkeep that she didn't hear, and as he began moving them towards the door she dug her claws into his arm. The man let out a roar, and the sweet release of her windpipe was bittered by the pain of slamming through the door and landing on the dirt outside.

Cinwi scrambled to her feet as the man walked out, behind him the chaser running away towards the city, while the undiscerned patron simply watched from within. She lowered to a hunch, her claws extended and teeth bared, ready to fight. There would be no explanations, whatever she or her father had done to this man long ago was not something that could be talked away. He wanted blood, simple as that. He charged at her like many others did, haymaker aimed down at her head, and many the others he didn't expect her to block it. The blood she'd drawn from his forearm she now drew from his fist, he claws sinking into it and yanking him forward with a strength that clearly caught him off guard. What she didn't expect was his weight, and when he fell on her she collapsed to the ground beneath him. Before she could defend herself, his unbloodied fist cracked against her cheek and her head smacked against the earth, dizzying her enough that the second blow didn't hurt nearly as much. The taste of blood on her tongue was enough to snap her back into focus however, and one again she grabbed hold of his arm, digging in deep enough that he wouldn't be able to yank away.

"Cinwi you asshole," she said, pulling him close and clamping her jaws down on his neck. The skin and muscle yielded easily, and all it took to make the Youkai man go limp was to rip out whatever it was she'd bitten onto. When it was over she shoved him off, rolling onto her stomach to cough up the blood she'd swallowed accidentally. Tasted fucking awful. Still, she had no time to bellyache, nor did she have time to be thankful that this man had not been a trained fighter. The luck of encountering a brute was becoming rare, and some other time she'd have to worry about finding a way to change that, but for now the only thing that mattered was getting away. In the dark she didn't trust the place beyond the city to be any safer than the city itself, at least there there'd be nooks and crannies to hide in. And so, getting to her feet, Cinwi headed down for the city, intent on finding a place to hide again.

CRACK

The flimsy casing of the drinks machine bent easily as the ogre slammed into it, Yuudai standing over the youkai as he attempted to scramble to his feet in slight panic. His race was also famed for their strength so as a fellow chaser he thought he could gain a boost to his reputation by beating her, the Scarlet Mage's pupil, in a fight. However he made the very big mistake of attempting a surprise attack instead of challenging her, something that she did not take kindly too in the least...

The main took a swing for the women, his intense power splitting the air but in the end it only met the brick wall on the other side of the alley. Strength he had that was for sure, but Ogres were legendarily fat and lazy beings while Oni held bodily perfection and combat talent in the highest regard. Yuudai had easily avoided the attack and followed up with one of her own, sending the youkai flying towards the other end of the alleyway, right at the feet of his freinds. Thankfully they had been so kind in providing the glammer that protected them from outside eyes, but with their friend badly beaten they made the first wise choice that night; they fled.

Yuudai gave off a sigh as they ran off, her eyes tracing to the drinks machine for a moment before deciding to simply open up the front of the busted machine and drag out a can of peach juice, no one would know since her big sister had something to take care of, but she did make sure to close it before leaning against the opposite wall of the alleyway.

"I wonder how long big sis will take."

As if on cue her phone gave off a jingle, signaling she had received a text which told her to meet up with Reiko. A bright smile came across the girls face as she set up her headphones and then started to make her way out of the alleyway, making sure to put on her glasses before she got out into public which transformed her eyes, the pitch black giving way to a more natural look.

Yuudai had to admit that the human world was nice, tho more boring than the crimson world that she was from, as the people that scurried around on their day to day lives brought a certain sense of life that was unlike the natural order of the crimson world. They also had something here that the oni found wonderful; takeout! On her way to meet with her big sister she made sure to pick up a takeout box of chicken noodle stir fry. She made sure to keep her run at normal human levels as she made her way to where they were to meet, and when she spotted Reiko she could not help but act a little childish and give a small wave as she got closer.

"Hey!~"

Another minor Soul Stone clattered to the rooftop as the remains of the Youkai crumbled to ash and faded away. With a quiet sigh Jin glanced at his surroundings and the numerous drops that had been left behind by the dead creatures. Dozens of dull Soul Stones littered the rooftop, but not quite enough to bother the Merchant with just yet. A dark gem was pulled from one of the pouches on his belt, black miasma oozing from it, and he crushed it with a clench of his hand. A dark cloud burst from it as a result, blanketing him for a moment before it was carried away on a non-existent wind. The air grew heavy, the shadows darkened, and Jin settled for the incoming horde.

From the darkness they bubbled into existence, limbs of all manners burst outwards to drag them into reality. Malignant growths appear in the sky above him and burst to spew forth half-formed Youkai, their bodies twisting unnaturally as they solidify and become whole. Throughout all this Jin barely bat an eye as the figure above him laid an armored hand over the ethereal bolt of its sniper rifle. With nary a sound the piece is drawn back to load a non-existent round. There is no indication that the weapon has been fired–no sound, no recoil the metal-clad spirit experienced–yet one of the crazed existences above their heads burst as the round tore through its malformed body. He felt eyes lock onto him, their attention turned to this one unlike them, but Jin simply flourished his hands and charged towards the creatures within his reach.

It was no fight. Dozens of the Youkai died before they can even fully materialize and act. Of those that manage to retaliate, Jin carved through their bodies with ease. The flesh of those recently born proved to be fragile and their forms readily fell apart with each of his strikes. The ones above fared even worse. With pinpoint accuracy, his soul picked out each target and blasted them from the skies. Mangled corpses fade before they can even hit the roof, and the pitter patter of Soul Stones against the tiles is music to his ears. Certainly much better than the Feral Youkais' maddening screams and howls.

A few minutes later and the air cleared, the oppressive feeling carried away with the wholesale slaughter Jin had just performed. He nudged the dropped Soul Stones into a pile at the center of rooftop, knelt, held his left arm over it, and twisted the bracelet in a certain fashion. A drop of his blood was offered as it clicked into place, and Jin turned aside as the pile began to glow with an intense light that would have blinded him otherwise. The procedure didn’t take very long as usual, and when he looked again there were two distinct objects present. A pure red gem and a pile of black dust, the two pieces of a Soul Stone separated from one another. Both were gathered and placed into separate pouches, and with a final glance around Jin left the rooftop.

---

While his original intention had been to visit Feng’s teashop for a moment, something on his way there caught Jin’s attention instead. His feet tore up the roof as he brought himself to a halt and changed his path. Airborne for but a moment, the streetlight bent and strained under his weight, but ultimately held. He hung easily with an arm as he glanced at the Youkai, her skin tone sort of gave it away, he had intercepted. “Busy night?” Jin asked as he gestured to the blood that had dried to the collar of her clothes.

Zhu Feng’s tea shop, while quaint and tranquil during mornings and noontime, really was dead as dirt during the evenings. Unlike Starbucks, which had the glorious wonders of free Wi-Fi for all coffee-sipping customers, Zhu Tea didn’t have such a miracle, and thus, it was pretty much dead after dinner time, outside of a few people getting take-out dim sum or sushi. Well, after a nice day of part-time work, it was nice to be paid to do nothing other than walk around the restaurant in a Chinese dress. Whistling a catchy tune as he placed chairs on tables and mopped the dark, wooden floor, Hoshiko looked wistfully out towards the other side of the street, where a cute freshman was chewing on the end of a pen inside the neighboring Starbucks. Her low-cut shirt made it clear that there was much to be desired for in the upper departments, but her legs were real nice: supple, long, and of a healthy, orange tan.

Did she do track? Or perhaps tennis? Her bob cut didn’t provide much answers, but hey, she was cute, so who cares?

Finishing up the last of the closing routine, Hoshiko stretched out with a yawn, before wondering if it’d be better if he tied his back into a masculine ponytail, or appealed to her maternal feelings by going for a twin tails look. The approach probably should be something good-natured though. A free cup of coffee, perhaps, before commenting on the course material? Hm, yeah that sounded about right, but…

*BRRRRRRTTTT*

Flicking out his cellphone from…somewhere in his Chinese dress, Hoshiko tapped the screen a few times to bring up his messages, and sighed. Dangeki Pawn Shop again? Chaser meeting again? Well, it’s not like he had school tomorrow or anything, so…time to kill some bad guys!

Discarding his plans of a one-night stand with a coffeehouse customer, the feminine boy strode into the Employee’s Only section of the tea shop and began changing to more comfortable clothes. Today, he had kept it light and breezy, a stylishly oversized shirt and jean shorts, putting an emphasis on his obsidian hair and his long legs. Yeah, he was rather proud of those legs of his. Made him look way taller than he actually was, and had the perfect combination of soft and hard, so that they felt nice to touch, but still packed enough muscle that most Youkai wouldn’t be able to have a touch.

“Heading out now, Master! Let’s bag ourselves an SSS tonight, alright~?”

With that, the cheerful boy made his way out of the building, pumping heroic J-Pop tunes into his ears as he broke out into a jog. While it wasn’t as if the Dangeki Pawn Shop was that far away Zhu Tea, he really did want to get to that oddity of a business first for once. While the first few instances he had attributed just to a lack of high-level missions, these days, the boy was fairly certain that someone has been sniping all the fun missions and keeping it for themselves. A-class was nice, and the few rare S-classes that he had the luck of picking up was great fun, but…SS class? SSS class? Bloody hell, he was thirsty as fuck for something super manly these days.

That fucking greedy shitstain speedster, hoarding all the Super Super Super jobs for himself…

There was, as always, already someone there when Hoshiko arrived, a fresh-faced teenager who looked like he was thoroughly confused as to how a door functioned. Smiling brightly as he stood beside him, Hoshiko pushed open the door and was greeted with a…surprise

“Oh,” he said, “Kucchan, where’s the others? Actually, no…”

Hoshiko narrowed his eyes at the message board, before his emerald eyes glittered like a starry galaxy, filled with super duper happiness!

"I'll take that SSS! Yay!"

Cinwi ran for a long while, long enough that when she came to a much-needed stop her legs were burning. It took a damn lot of running to wear her out usually, but then it wasn't every night she ran with a dizzy head and sore back, so fuck it, good enough. The girl hunched on her hands and knees, finding to her relief that she was alone, at least for the time being.

"Fuck, ow," she grumbled, rubbing a hand through her hair and over the tiny horns buried within. No blood, at least her skull wasn't cracked. Bastard had hit her hard, but not smart, and though her jaw was sore and her tongue had been bitten, she well preferred that to a concussion. Still, she was a tad fuzzy and that certainly wouldn't help in the worst-case.

So instead she leaned back against the streetlamp and slid onto the ground. A little break wouldn't hurt, besides, the chasers would have plenty of other things to deal with other than some stray Youkai sitting on the sidewalk. At least that was what she thought, anyway. It very suddenly and very shockingly became clear that no, in fact she wasn't out-of-the-way, and yes, chasers could in fact be looking around for any and every Youkai in sight.

"Holy fucking shit!"

The posts shook and that startled her enough, but then when she looked up there was a man hanging from the light, casting his own shadow into the illuminated circle. He was silhouetted at first, but when she scrambled to her feet she got a better look at him. Human, duh, chaser, duh, but not some pushover like the one at the tavern had been. This guy looked serious, like one of the ones who actually did something with their powers. Well damn.

Cinwi's eyes nonetheless turned hard, and an angry scowl took over her face at the blood's mention. Serious or not, the fucker was still a chaser. "You start every conversation like a god damned monkey? The fuck's it to you if I'm having a busy night?"

"Another one bites the dust! Hah! That makes 6 tonight, I'm on a fucking roll!" - "K-Kuu have mercy I was..." The white robbed man proceeded to kick the on the ground lying two-horned blue skinned oni which body was cut clean from his lower half. "SHUT YOUR DIRTY MOUTH! Don't you fucking dare to speak to me in our language." Regardless, while mercy may have been the wrong word, the Chaser knew he shouldn't spend too much time bathing in his victory, after all, if the regeneration of the Oni would kick in, he might have to repeat the entire fight.

"Now die." Preparing 1 white pieces of paper, the man threw them into the air. "Kill it!" The paper started to glow and increase in size until it changed it's form into some woman lookalike who finished the on the ground lying oni with a dropkick towards its head before disappearing itself.

As the remains of the now for sure dead Oni faded away the man sacked the Soul Stone for himself. "Huh, that one's actually larger than I anticipated." That was obviously nothing to worry about, and his haughty smile became even haughtier.

"Alright, now t- WHO'S THERE?" Readying 3 more paper charms the Chaser took a defensive position while turning towards a old brick wall where a girl was now standing. "Just...how?" He hadn't noticed her earlier, not to mention there was no way she could have gotten behind him like that.

"Ruu?" Ruu was hungry. Very hungry. And the man smelled unique. There was a mix of all kinds of flavours, flavours that Ruu might have been able to categorize if she knew anything other than Youkai or human meat in the first place. But that didn't matter, the amount of blood that he spilled this night put a sweet aroma over his dangerous and forbidden feeling own scent. Ruu wanted him, her entire tiny frame was trembling upon the mere thought of feasting this person.

Now, that she took a few steps forward out of the shadow, the dim light revealed more of her features, which ultimately made the man drop his defense. Every human did that for some reason, they were all the same in that regards. "Just...a little girl? Argh, can't be bothered, just my fuckin luck, ey?" Speaking to himself he now called out to Ruu. "Hey annoying br-" He forced a smile and bowed down a bit. "Hey little one, did you get l-" And that was Ruu's chance. The time she spend in this thing place, called city, taught her that some humans were even harder prey than Youkai, and making them drop their defense allowed Ruu to end it in an instant, most of the time. Already wet in anticipation of the meal she was about to have, Ruu crawled down and jumped towards, aiming her mouth towards the mans neck he reacted.

"Aaarrrghhh! BLOODY HELL! GET OFF ME!" Ruu was happy. As vile as the man seemed, the taste was better than she anticipated, and while she got his upper left arm instead of his throat, it was a success nonetheless. Dazed from that wonderful taste, the small girl didn't mind getting punched over and over again, that was, until his hand started to glow and the next punch catapulted her towards the very same wall she emerged from earlier.

"Argh, my fuckin' arm. I gonna kill you. I GONNA FUCKIN KILL YOU." Pulling out 8 paper charms with his healthy arm, he started to chant:



Throwing the charms into the air, they each flew towards a specific position to create the corner-stones for what seemed to look like a pentagram. From which soon after, a strange creature emerged, giving off a buzzing sound from thousand upon thousand of small insects.

That last one actually hurt. Ruu was just being dazed for a few seconds and suddenly, the delicious male summoned some Youkai to his side. Unlike the man however, the smell of that being was terrifying, so terrifying that Ruu's desiring body was actually disgusted.

"Ruu..." It wasn't a call out for help or anything. But in that moment, a sharp line in the air that cut away the fabric of reality itself appeared besides Ruu. Forced to be some sort of hole by a pair of hands that ripped the line into an opening, another Youkai emerged: Terror. Stepping forth the portal closed as sudden as it appeared. "Oh? Are you mayhaps getting mind controlled? Is that Youkai your host? Not that I care. KILL THAT FILTHY BITCH!" Pointing his finger towards Terror, the beast attacked simply with its body mass.

Terror retaliated by shooting multiple energy projectiles at it, but highly ineffective, the female Neverborn quickly evaded Gogmagog while also taking care of Ruu, who she simply dropped off on the low roof of a building. Meanwhile, the mass of black insects swarmed the entirety of the streets bellow. "BWAHAHA! TREMBLE BEFORE IT'S POWER! There is no way you can beat it!"

Urgh, that sucked. Ruu knew that Terror was fighting on an entirely different level than herself, and the fact he wasn't dead yet was not a good sign. Still, Ruu was at least capable of concluding if the Summoner would die then they didn't have to deal with this nasty smelling Youkai. She didn't want to eat it anyways, that's how horrible it was smelling! Giving Terror to understand, she didn't hesitate one second to dash towards the Chaser. "Fool!" Throwing 5 new paper charms in front of him they formed a barrier that completely blocked Terror's physical assault, leaving her wide open for a counter attack.

"TERROR!" Calling out in fear for her dear friend, Ruu actually called out those words in human tongue. Terror was now completely engulfed inside the black insect swarm as the Chaser quickly retreated to a safer position. "RUU!" This time, two horrible looking black dogs emerged out of Ruu's shadow and quickly made haste towards the Chaser.

"Even more?" Pulling out another 4 charms, he threw the first two towards one dog, and the other two towards the other one. While one of the Pack members managed to dodge, the other one got hit by both of them and was promptly engulfed in a very tight web of light, that quickly started to squeeze it into death. The other dog actually made it to the chaser, aiming for the throat also, the man simply turned to use his already damaged arm as an improvised shield. And just like with Ruu, his free fist glowed again, but this time the entire dog disappeared instead of getting knocked back. The other one actually managed to split into multiple parts and quickly retreated into the safety of Ruu's shadow on her command.

"Terror!" Calling out again, a blue shimmer erupted from within the ravaging collective of the Youkai that soon erupted into a light pillar, burning away every part of Gogmagog. "Terror!" Now, Ruu sounded happy, with Terror being mostly unharmed by shielding herself in the last moment and Gogmagog now gone, the Chasers was hers!

"Ha...Ha...Haha...HAHAHAHA! Do you r-" Just as he was about to explain, Terror, once again, closed the distance between herself and the enemy. "URGH! SHIT! YOU FUCKIN SHITHEAD!" Doing it once again, the Chaser avoided being cut in half and instead lost now his entire left arm.

"HO-RA-KEN!" Yelling out those words under his pain, an energy burst made sure to push Terror away to avoid any further assaults for the time being. "GET EM!" Out of nowhere, the countless insects once again assaulted Terror, putting her onto the defensive again. "Haha..." Coughing up some blood, the chaser continued. "As I was just about to tell you! My Gogmagog ins invincible!"

"You see the portal up there? How about destroying the paper charms?" A voice inside Ruu now suggested in a language only Ruu and her Neverborn understood completely. It was Faust. "And while I'm at it. We should quickly get away from here. This fight isn't very...subtle." Faust gave a mental sigh. He was actually surprised that not even Terror realized the weak point of that binding spell. If not for their silly attention attracting fight there was a chance that Terror could even have temporary died, which would have only worked in Faust's favour. Not to mention that Chaser managed to kill one of Ruu's Pack members too.

As if having some sort of mental link, Terror didn't waste any second and 8 energy projectiles soon destroyed the charms that were forming the pentagram. "FUCK!" The sound of the swarm died down in the same instant, while not disappearing, the insects simply died down. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" He drew another 8 charms, most likely ready to form the same spell again. "FUCK!" The Chaser fumbled, dropping two of the charms onto the ground he nervously grabbed into his endless bag of paper charms again.

By then, it was too late, having lost his cool just by that, Terror closed in once again and cut the man into two. "F-" Ruu...won? Yes, she won. But the girl felt down nonetheless, one of her dogs died, a dear friend that she spend a lot of time with. Sure, The Pack was kinda countless, but each one was a dear individual to her nonetheless.

That sadness however was soon overtaken by the growing desire to actually eat now. Sure, the smell of the countless dead small bodies was still present, but the rainbow coloured scent of the Chaser was as fresh as ever in her mind. Finally jumping down from the building she happily hugged Terror for her job well done.

Giving Ruu a small bow the white Neverborn simply dissapeared on the spot. Clapping her two hands together Ruu joyfully said. "Itadakimasu!" Sure, she didn't know much of the human language, but with the bits she got from those picture books that some humans carried on themselves, she knew that this was some sort of gesture they simply did. Ruu didn't know the meaning behind it, but she liked the sound of the words, and it made her more happy than she already was.

Ignoring Faust's complains about how they had to get out of here, she could finally dig in! And with her first bite, even the smell around the little Youkai was forgotten, the world around her was forgotten, it tasted even better than she imagined.

If Ruu had actually been capable of understanding the Chaser she might have wondered how a guy like him could taste so good, but she did not, and all that mattered was that wonderful, sweet, warm taste. Ruu wanted more, and more, and more, it felt simply too good... .

As if time had stopped, the area around Kusanagi's front door suddenly dropped in temperature. The very metal of her door knob became brick hard and slick with ice and the air seemed to shift around young Tsuyoshi. It was almost as if the surrounding background had grown a mind of its own, but the true origin point was nothing as grand as that. Something wet and clammy latched onto Tsuyoshi's ankles, and the familiarity of fingers held on tightly to keep him from moving.

Although it was doubtful that the young boy could move at this point. When one was struck by fear, they usually did the wonders of staying rooted in place. Another hand clasped around the boy's second ankle as two arms seemed to be sprouting out of the darkness. At last, the being that was causing such a phenomenon made itself known as it too rose from the ground, taking the shape of a teenage girl. Her head was gone, leaving behind a stump of a neck in its place, where the torn skin was almost like leather, and the dripping black ooze was akin to fresh blood.

Tsuyoshi's eyes widened at first like any normal person; a headless person just rose out of the fricking ground! Tsuyoshi tried to move back but his legs were latched on by hands? Hands!? "What the hell are you!?" The boy exclaimed. He gripped the hilt of his katana and began pulling it out of its saya. "Let go of me!" He shouted again, hoping that the sight of the sword would make the being back off. "I mean it! Let go!" Tsuyoshi said. To no avail, the creature refused to move. Could it be a Youkai? Then it's cuttable. Tsuyoshi fully drew his sword and made a quick diagonal slice. It went right through! The thing didn't even look liked it took a scratch. "What the hell are you?" he asked, still trying to move back. He looked down to see the pair of arms again that had a firm, chilling grip on his ankle. Tsuyoshi sliced through them, and again, and again, he pretty much repeated the process, refusing to stop. "Let go damn it!"

The ghastly being climbed up onto Tsuyoshi's body now, crawling with its wet hands before it faced the boy with only the dark patch of a torn neck. Moving forward, it let the shadowy whispers that spilled out to encompass the two of them. Only when the air had blackened completely did the creature react and-

"Boo!"

Suddenly, the being had a head again and the full image of a girl floated before Tsuyoshi. No doubt it would be quite the jumpscare, given the amount of build up leading to it. With a giggle, the girl moved away from the boy and circled around him, the black wisps trailing after the creature's...lack of a lower body.

"Well? Are you scared yet little one?"

Tsuyoshi tried to look unphased on the outside but inside he was screaming [color=gray] "Holy fuck! What the shit is this!?" Tsuyoshi wasn't quite sure this was a Youkai but no way was this was a human. "Little one? Compared to what your face looks like, that's rich," Tsuyoshi said, with a small smirk forming on his face. "So you CAN talk huh? What are you then?" he questioned, still keeping a firm grip on his sword.

"I'm a ghost. Isn't it obvious? And there's no need to act brave in front of me little one. I've seen even grown men scream out when I prank them," the girl said in a matter of fact tone. "Consider me the security system of this place. Actually, your face looks kind of familiar. You're a Chaser, right? Come here to shop at Dangeki?"

Hmm, if this was a security system, Tsuyoshi might have to be careful about what he says. "Uhm, yeah, I'm a Chaser. But it's a different reason why I'm here. I suppose you could say I'm here to talk to your employer."

"Oh! You must want to join the Hunter's Association then! Why didn't you say so earlier?"

The irony in that was much too potent for one to consider. Even so, the ghost girl moved forward to grab Tsuyoshi's arm and drag him forward. With a smirk, she fazed both herself and him through the barrier and into the front of the shop. The boy may have felt a disturbing sensation run across his spine at the passing, but that was to be expected when dealing with a ghost.

"Kusanagi, we have someone that wants to join up!"

Moments later, a young looking girl with a long jacket walked up behind her counter, raising an eye both at the ghost and the boy. The place could only be described as an organized mess. Items of all kinds cluttered every corner of the room and it was a wonder in itself how Kusanagi was able to maneuver through all of it. Crossing her arms, she nodded at the ghost before focusing her eyes on Tsyuyoshi.

"Thanks Sadoko. You can go back to sleep now if you want."

"Roger boss," the ghost replied, giving Tsuyoshi a wink before melting back into the ground and out of sight.

That was... an incredibly bizarre experience. Tsuyoshi sheathed his sword while he was scanning the Dangeki Pawn Shop. "So, she's your security guard?" he asked while he gazed across the room, before realizing that Kusanagi was in front of him, looking a bit ticked off as well. He put his hand on the back of his head. "Hehe, sorry. I'm Tsuyoshi," he said with a small chuckle as he introduced himself. "You're... Kusanagi?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am. You here to shop, trade, or go home?"

The cloaked girl shifted in her position before suddenly disappearing from Tsuyoshi's sights. In the same moment, she was by his side, looking him over. She noted the sword and that was enough to tell her that this was a Youkai hunter. Meaning, he was either already a Chaser or he wanted to become one. Thinking this over, Kusanagi grinned coyly.

"Well you're a new face. Unless I met you and just forgot? Heh, that's always a possibility. So you here to join up kid?"

Whoah! No way could she move that fast? Did she wait till he blinked? No way? Right? "Uhm yeah, I want to join the Hunter's Association," he stated with a smile. Ever since he heard of it, it's all he wanted to do.

"Fine. You're in," Kusanagi said effortlessly, turning away and heading back to her counter. "There's really no paperwork or blood oath you have to sign. At least, as far as I'm concerned. Your real initiation into this club is proving yourself on missions. And missions are located in the back."

With a grin, she pointed to a nearby wall that held a neat assortment of the given missions so far. She was about to say more when someone else entered her shop. The girl gave a small, welcoming wave to Hoshiko, motioning him towards the mission board.

"They're still coming Hoshiko, but we've got a new recruit, fresh and ready right here."

Tsuyoshi blinked twice as he stood there in astonishment. "Really? Just like that?" He bowed appreciatively to Kusanagi. "Thank you so much! You won't be disappointed!" he said, and with that he went over to the assortments of paper. So many... Tsuyoshi turned back around when Kusanagi mentioned a fresh recruit, so he thought she was referring to him. He looked over at the newcomer, who looked like a girl. "Looks like she didn't get jumped by that ghost girl. Must be a regular." he thought. He waved at this... Hoshiko with a warm smile.

"No no no...how could my calculations be off? Zane snarled at his latest project, a half-built robot hanging in the abandoned structure in Crimson Sky that he had found and turned into a laboratory. The building was rectangular with one entrance. The out side was stark, plain white, died red under the crimson light. The inside was a maze of rooms, from the size of a closet to the size of a gym. Currently, most of it was empty, only a few rooms were filled with scattered junk in no particular order. He hadn't had it long, so there wasn't much in it. Just what he had brought in. The half-built robot had been the largest thing he had taken from the ruined city, and one of the most interesting things he had found there. But it seemed to be nigh-unrepairable. Zane got up, abandoning what he had been working on in disgust. "Tch, If only I had more tools and materials! Zane muttered too himself, a habit anyone who spends a long time alone develops. "But the most reliable way to get them is in the other world and I would need money to get them. Although I could always steal them..." He had been occasionally going to the other world for jobs from the 'Chasers.' He didn't care much for them and their bleeding-heart helping others ways. As far ah he was concerned if you weren't strong enough to protect yourself, then you deserved what eve happened to you. Then again, there was that one person...

A audible beep interrupted his thoughts. Irritated at the interruption he recognized the beep as a text message, so he looked down at his right hand. He opened his fingers like a sideways finger gun and a hologram, generated by his TechArmor popped up and between his thumb and forefinger. The display showed the message and who it was from. "Dangeki Pawn Shop eh? Lets see..." He idly touched it with his left hand and read the message. "blah blah...boooring." He said, disappointed. He turned, intending to ignore it, but then his twisted brain spat out an idea."Hmm... this could be a great opportunity to gather some valuable data, perhaps study the subject. The money might be nice too. He glanced back at the robot. "Screw it, I have nothing better to do." He said. Zane quickly grabbed what he needed and in less than a minute he opened a portal to the normal world and walked through.

He purposely emerged a block from the shop. Responding to his mental commands, his dynamos formed a levitating skateboard and he hopped on, his hands in his pockets, and cruised to the shop. Upon arrival, he noted the ruckus that seemed to have already started. He opened the door, and walked in, a slight mad smile on his face. He was hoping his person of interest would be there. He surveyed the room without a word, his creepy gaze sliding across the room in a slow circuit looking at everyone there. She isn't here... He thought with a pang of disappointment. I'll wait until she shows up then. Still not saying a word, he walked to an empty chair and sat.

Akima rode his horse through the city's streets, he was on the hunt for new victims to drain. On the horse were several bags, they seemed aufully large to be simple supplies or something of the sort. The chuckling could be heard on the nearby homes as well as the knocking of the hooves against the pavement. Lights turned on as people looked outside, wondering what it was that made the noise, but they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Akuma had a way of choosing the best route not to be spotted by all that many people. Even if they did spot him and called authorities, he wanted... no, he needed the people to recognize his return since he has an obsession with his "work" being recognized and he needed the thrill of being chased by these Chasers.

As the demon kept on riding, faint screams could be heard ahead, It seems my meal awaits, he thought to himself licking his lips with anticipation. The screams came from a middle-aged woman with a huge gash through her face and torn up clothing with several scratch marks throughout her arms and legs. Akuma wanted to toy with his newest meals since it had been a bit since he had last eaten ; and what better way to play than to play a good game of cat and mouse? It had been about 15 minutes before the demon grew tired and decided to simply lift one of the tiles on the sidewalk in front of the woman with his telekinesis, causing her to fall.

Akuma approached with hunger in his eyes, but he didn't want to finish just yet. As a final act of brutality, the demon looked into the woman's eyes causing hallucinations beyond anything most humans had ever seen and it was enough to throw her over the edge and make her scream in such a way, that people would be afraid simply by hearing her. Akima finally moved in for the kill, draining every last ounce of life from his victim. Quickly, he got on his horse with another bag now added to the small group of five bags on the horse. He stopped in a street with plenty of people living there, before hanging up the five victims with the words "Did You Miss Me?" written on each body, with the final one torn up. "It's been far too long" he said, chuckling maniacally as his horse simply burned away and Akuma walked back to the Crimson World.

It has been 20 long years since Akuma last made contact with humans, and he is anxious to return to business.

Geoff's entrance to the Pawn Shop was somewhat subdued. Quite a crowd had gathered, among whom a few familiar faces were visible. He considered greeting one of the assembled chasers he was familiar with, but thought better of it. He didn't need money, not after the retrieval down in Okinawa, but that did not mean he was not hungry for work, and he suspected his interests and those of his few acquaintances would not coincide. He doubted she would be interested in the type of work he was hungry for, anyways. It had been weeks since he had had an excuse to go back into the Crimson for research, or even exploration. Rent was a powerful motivator, and had forced his aims to a rather more practical course than he would usually prefer. He was hungry to explore, to take pictures and hopefully encounter some at least more friendly demons. The last time he had made successful contact was nearly a month ago, and despite the long-necked man's fascination with the workings and shape of his liver, he was not at all unpleasant company. He had even given Geoff one of his scrolls, though apparently the document did not appreciate the transfer back to the human world. Geoff would remember not to mention that.

He elbowed his way to the front of the pack, knowing new assignments would be posted today. His eyes stretched to dinner plates when he saw the SSS rank. The danger was a worry, obviously, but it would at least start as a research and investigation mission, which was just the excuse he would need. If what he found was too much for him, he could just back out and demand payment for his contribution: such missions were usually forced to reward such tactics, and Geoff wasn't going to let an opportunity for potentially-paying research slip past him.

He set on it immediately, though he was slightly off-put by a shout next to him. What looked like a young girl shouting in a particularly uncomfortable voice, proclaiming her assumption of the mission. She would be a chaser, of course, and Geoff had learned a long time ago that age does not necessarily correlate with power within the crimson, but maturity certainly still did. He could just imagine the imposition she could pose to his work if left unchecked, his mind flashing through the worst-case and least-likely scenarios. Regardless, he would not be swayed from his course. He took a step towards the girl, not making any gestures of greeting but still clearly addressing her.

"So, you're taking the SSS too? I like the cut of your jib, I'm picking it up too. What's your name?"

May as well try and mitigate the inconvenience, Geoff figured.

He supposed her reaction made sense if she had just gotten out of a fight, but it could just as well be his presence as a Chaser. His expression remained impassive as he considered this; unperturbed by her attitude or foul mouth. He dropped to the sidewalk once she had put some distance between themselves, not wanting to imply anything with their positions.

It was easier to judge from ground level that she had to be a good foot shorter than him. Somewhat amusing, but ultimately irrelevant since stature meant little for what she was physically capable of. The Knight, with both hands still on its firearm, scanned the surroundings for any threats rather than focusing on her. “Depends if the environment works for it, but sometimes,” he admitted, “and just curious. Nice to know what happens around town at night. Specially if it’s something worth dying over.”

Cinwi jerked a bit when the man dropped to the street, and when her focus was down where it was supposed to be she noticed as well that it wasn’t just the two of them there. She observed the knight-like figure with a mouth slightly agape, eyes jumping from the nondescript rifle in its hands to the sheer bulk of its figure.

”What the actual fuck,” she mumbled, snapping her gaze back to the man. ”That your body guard, princess?”

He might have cracked a grin when she took notice of the spirit that clung to his back. Maybe… Possibly… Probably not. What was noticeable was the small shrug in reaction to her question as he gave a vague answer. “If you want to think of it as that, then sure, young lady. That aside, I’m Jin, and would really like to know who you got into a fight with.”

Woah woah. Wait. Woah, back up. Cinwi heard nearly everything the man said, but the mental brakes were pumped when he called her “young lady”. Her lips curled almost on reflex, and the blood rushing in her veins only quickened its pace. This mother fucker.

”Yeah yeah, Jan, right. Hold on. Did you just fucking call me young lady? Who the living hell do you think you are, you little punk?” she spat. ”If you know what’s good for you you’d better show me some god damned respect or you’ll find out exactly what I was doin’ to get this shit on me, y’hear?”

He didn’t so much bat an eyelid at her displeasure, but Jin did raise his hands in a gesture for peace. “Right, right. My apologies then.” Appearances didn’t mean much, so she could have been hundreds of years old for all he knew. Then again he never did understand why they bothered to take such young appearances if being addressed in such a fashion offended them so. Certainly, she wasn’t the one to prod about such a subject though. “So, what would you preferred to be addressed as then?”

Cinwi blinked at his calm response. Huh, odd, usually that riled the other person up almost as much as her. But then again, usually a fight followed after that, and glancing back to the knight she thought it was best that such an outcome had been avoided, for the time being. It was hard for her to let go of the frustration, so she didn’t, but nonetheless she did reel in the attitude, if only a little.

”Yeah, well...don’t let it happen again,” she puffed, arms folded. She had another choice to make, take the chance this guy knew anything about her, or lie. Again. Fuck it, if he knew who she was he’d have recognized her by now, probably. ”And uhh, Cinwi. My name is Cinwi. Got that? Not miss, not lady, fuckin’ Cinwi. Cool?”

He was somewhat glad that the matter had been easily settled and that she seemed to be relatively reasonable. The name was unfamiliar to him, though he did remember to see if the Merchant knew anything. Well anything he couldn’t find out from her this very moment. “Cinwi it is then”—nodding as he let the unusual name roll off his tongue—“though I can’t say I’m familiar with it. I do-”

Again there was no sound as his Spirit racked the rifle’s action back smoothly and looked to the buildings at the end of the street. He glanced in the same direction for a moment, but ultimately seemed to pay it no attention and said, “Just preparation I think. Ferals might smell their dead on me I think.”

The knight’s movements caught her attention evidently for longer a concern than Jin’s. Oddly the man didn’t seem too curious about the fact that, for being such a hulk of metal, the fucking thing didn’t make a sound. But all the same her focus was pulled back to Jin.. Dead Youkai? Something told her she should have expected that, but all the same it was unnerving to come across someone so casually who had not long before killed one of her own kind. Not that she had any sort of special love for her fellow demons, but it would be foolish to assume the human’s held such a lack of prejudice.

”You uhh...you do a lot of that?” she asked, clearing her throat. ”The killing. Like, the Youkai killing, I dunno if you freaks kill each other or anything too.”

In hindsight it was probably not the best of ideas to mention he murdered her kind, even if they could barely be considered that. Of the sentient Youkai Jin had interacted with most seemed to view the Ferals as little more than beasts. The Merchant certainly had no qualms about his wholesale slaughter, but it did profit from the Soul Stones he harvested as a result, so there was probably some bias on its part.

“Fairly often,” he admitted with a shrug, “I get paid for Soul Stones, and the Ferals don’t seem to be missed. Occasionally I do hunt Sentients, but only when bounties are put out. Cautious?” Jin tilted his head slightly at the question, watching her for a reaction.

”What? Pft, think I’m scared? Of you? Your big metal doll over there gives me the creeps, but you? Okay Cinwi that was enough, provocation was not the goal. It didn’t matter if the guy believed her, it only mattered that he didn’t actually act on any of it.

She cracked her knuckles, rolling her neck on a swivel. ”But the ferals scare me a lot less, so all these combined threats Imma hafta say nah, not cautious. Why, you cautious?”

“Ah.” Well, that was the general assumption most people he had met went for so he could hardly fault Cinwi for thinking the same. His lips nonetheless curled up into a smile, even as he took a step backwards while his hands remained at face level. “A bit”—his spirit turning to glance at her—“but I’m hardly looking for a fight.” Any Chaser in their right mind would have had to be, so Jin hardly felt anything in admitting it. Humanoid Youkai from his experience tended to be at least fairly powerful, and with no idea what sort of abilities she possessed it would have been highly stupid on his part to engage in unnecessary combat.

---

Still, it seemed that combat would be inevitable… just not with Cinwi. ‘My...’ Whoever they were, they didn’t even try to hide their killing intent. Not that it was very powerful or oppressive, but with their feelings laid bare it was easy to sense them from even this distance. He felt his spirit squeeze the trigger, and the air rippled as the projectile sped towards the roof of the building it had watched for that last minute. He didn’t need to turn to take in what the Knight saw, a gesture born mostly out of habit, and kept his eyes on Cinwi for the moment instead. “Not Ferals,” he remarked as several more rounds were fired off in that direction, “"friends" of yours?”

Cinwi looked with muted panic towards the rooftop where the knight had fired, yet she saw nothing immediately. More Youkai obviously, unless this guy was some sort of lunatic on the run, but in all likelihood the former. Oh great, had the oaf had friends? A pit formed in her gut, did he have family? Some Youkai didn’t, but then she herself was one such example of the opposite case. She swallowed back a lump in her throat and bared her teeth again, glancing to Jin.

”I’m not exactly the friendly type. Maybe someone smelled your weak ass and called their friends for a free meal, she said, claws brandished. A vapor so faint it was nigh-invisible rose from the inside of the scarf, and were one to run their hand through it, they might have felt a terrible chill. ”Lucky for you I’m ready to tear some shit up, where’re they at?”

“So I’ve figured,” Jin chirped as he raised an eyebrow at the fangs and claws he now just noticed. The reaction quickly faded as he scratched his head and turned around to face the approaching Youkai. “Glad to hear it. They’re on the buildings on either side of the street.” Evidently these Youkai hadn’t expected his presence as it took them more than a few moments to figure out they should split their numbers in half. Not a terribly bad idea, but then Jin muttered, “Discard jian. M249, set, load, and equip.”

The discoloration on his arms seemed to recede towards his hands, even as the firearm clutched in his Knight’s hands shifted. Whereas there had been a projectile every few seconds, there was now a literal stream that lit the rooftop of one building alight. “Those on the left aren’t going anywhere,” he announced, nodding for her to take care of the shadowy figures that closed in from their right.

Cinwi watched Jin and the knight act as symbiotes, but she couldn’t quite put together what the actual process was. Not that it mattered, the metal fucker just started firing a different gun at the rooftops. She let out a huff, humans and their weapons, quite literally inseparable.

Nevertheless, she took his gesture to heart and turned to face the right-flanking Youkai. None of them looked like the oaf, but damned if ninety percent of them didn’t look wildly different from one another. She dropped to a hunch, then lower, nearly to all fours, and began a prowl around them. One lunged and she met it full-speed, feet digging into the ground as she won the upper hand. The first beast was lifted into the air, and then promptly slammed down on the concrete, yet it was the sound of bone snapping that rang out, rather than the cracking of stone. One down, she dropped to a prowl again, as the others didn’t look like they’d just come forward single-file.

He raised an eyebrow as a figure tried to dart from cover and instead received a flurry of rounds for its trouble. The body rocked from numerous impacts before it finally collapsed and it seemed that did the lesson well enough. Trigger let go, the Knight nonetheless kept watch on the Youkai in the distance as Jin turned to see how Cinwi fared.

The twitching, broken body of her first opponent made things clear enough. With not even half their original numbers, the remainder hesitated to engage; it didn’t even look like their leader was with them. He felt a small burst of covering fire drive back the other half as he approached Cinwi. “So… seems they didn’t expect me. Gonna let them run off or?”

Unfortunately, it seemed she wouldn’t be able to make such a decision. Maybe their nerves snapped, or more likely they didn’t like a human, even if he was a Chaser, speaking down at them in such a manner. Whatever the case was, the half a dozen remaining Youkai bristled in anger and charged at them almost immediately. With two of them focused on him, Jin was forced to retreat backwards as he fended off their attacks. The other four, having seen what happened to the first, moved in all at the same time, trying to crush Cinwi with their superior numbers.

It was not the best situation, to put it lightly. Cinwi was strong, but that didn’t matter much when she was caught off guard and off balance. One blindsided her, and she rolled with it on the ground slashing and clawing wildly until it let go, only to be instantly hauled off by another. For the second time that day she hit the dirt, and her back screamed in protest. A foot struck her ribs, another her gut, and all she could do was lash out in the hopes of catching one of them.

As luck would have it, her fingers dug into the hefty ankle of the closest attacker, and with little grace she ripped the tendons apart. It fell, howling in pain, and when she got back to her feet another was quick to close in and grab her in a bear hug. Without too much thought she bit down on its neck, but when she was dropped, the remaining two pinned her down.

”Get off me you fuckers! she roared, thrashing claw and foot alike, snapping her jaws in vain for a fleshy grip. Fists pounded her head, nails raked her cheeks and tore her scarf, her skin. What few nicks she managed to score on them were not enough to ward them away. Shit, maybe this was it, dying in the street to some nobody assholes.

Location: Random Bar, Sonomachi City.

Through one of the Bar's widows a group of friends could be seen sitting at a table laughing, the five of them enjoying themselves at the late hour. Across the street from a bar was a lone figure standing in an alleyway, resting against a wall, keeping an eye on the group as time went by. After what seemed like a few minutes had gone by the group of friends had calmed down, having finished their drinks they paid their bill and gathered outside the bar, they exchanged words of goodbye as three of them left together while the other two waited there.

"it was great getting together again, we should do this more often"

One of them spoke in a female tone to break the silence that was settling over the area.

"yeah... it's just difficult with everything going on, life gets in the way of life you know?"

The second one said in masculine tone, offering a joking smile, receiving a friendly bump of the shoulder from the girl.

"don't remind me, I have to wake up early tomorrow remember?..."

She said with an annoyed grin as they both stood still.

"... you sure you don't want a ride home Veronica?"

The guy asked her in a slightly concerned tone.

"my apartment is only three blocks away, I'll be fine, I just wanted to keep you company until your taxi gets here"

Veronica said with a smile, the guy didn't seem convinced but didn't want to continue on the matter as the taxi he called drove up and stopped near them, he looked to Veronica one last time.

"last chance"

He said with a small smile, Veronica shook her head slightly as she began walking away.

"talk to you later Mike"

Veronica said as she waved back to him, Mike chuckled slightly before getting into the taxi, it left it's spot a few minutes later as it drove of. It was then that the figure who had been watching the group dwindle from the alley across the street had left it's spot. As Veronica walked with a relatively calm smile she zoned out as she listened to the sound of her shoes against the sidewalk, she was basically on auto pilot having walked home from the Bar before.

But something disputed her state of mind as she was walking, it was an irregularity in the sound of her footfalls, it was almost unnoticeable, but it was enough to bring her to her senses. Veronica stopped on point as if to recalibrate her hearing, but when she heard another footfall that wasn't her own she jumped in surprise as she quickly turned around and looked behind her, only to see nothing but the sidewalk that she was walking on.

"Hello?.."

She called out to whoever might have been walking behind her, she stared for a good long minute, her heart pumping a little harder and faster in her chest than normal, after concluding that there was no one there, she gulped before returning to walking, but at a slightly quicker pace than before, even though she thought she knew that she wasn't being followed, something inside her screamed that she was and it terrified her. There is was again, just like before it sounded like someone was trying to keep pace with her own footsteps and it was getting closer, it sent chill up Veronica's spine as her heart rate speed up. Veronica began running as panic began to set in, that panic then turned into fear as she heard the footsteps behind her fall out of sync with her own as they speed up and began to close in.

It was just at the end of the street, her apartment building was sitting there with the light over the door shining like a beacon of safety as she ran towards it, her heart pounded in her chest like a hammer as panted for breath, the footsteps behind her sounded like they were directly behind her, Veronica close her eye's as she closed in on her apartments door. The satisfying sound of her hands planting on the door with a thud rang out as she pushed the door open, falling onto the floor and sliding a little, she quickly got to her feet as she turned to face the with open door with apprehension as she caught her breath. She stood there for what felt like the longest time before she cautiously approached the door, pulling it open fully she looked around to find the street empty, taking two steps outside she looked down both streets before letting out a sigh as shaking her head while letting out a mild chuckle.

"I swear, that is the Last time I drink at a Bar..."

She said humorously as she put together in her head that it was the alcohol that made up her imaginary pursuer, with the fear of being followed gone she turned around to enter her apartment to get a good nights rest, it was then that Veronica's heart sunk into her stomach as she visibly paled. What stood between her and her apartment's front entrance was a tall dark cloaked figure with hungry auburn eye's.

"Boo"

Veronica went to let out a cry of pure fear but before she could even open her mouth a powerful hand clamped her lips shut as she was spun around before a strong arm wrapped around her and lifted her off the ground.

"shush, shush shush shush... we wouldn't want to wake anyone after a hard days work now would we?"

The dark figure said in a distinctively male tone before chuckling darkly while showing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, then it began to carry the ensnared woman towards a dark alleyway, Veronica let out muffled cries of dread and fear as she kicked and struggled to get free as tears began to roll down her cheeks, this was like something out of a nightmare to her. To make things worse the cloaked man had pulled out a roll of duck tape and managed to not only tape her mouth closed but tape up her hands together in a way that would prevent her from being able to take the tape off her mouth to call for help. After having done so the cloaked man held Veronica's hands above her head and held her up against a brick wall, he glared at her with hungry eye's while grinning his toothy smile, it sent chills up Veronica's spin.

"alright lady I'm going to be honest with you, so listen up... tonight your going to die, and nothing's going to stop that... but if you do as I say, then I'll make sure it's quick and painless... and if you don't, I'm going to make sure your begging for death before I'm done with you... understand?..."

The man said with a crazed look it his eye's that seemed to be glowing orange, Veronica let out a whimper of despair as she struggled in vain to get free.

"maybe I wasn't being clear-"

The man quickly pulled a knife from his cloaks pocket before holding it against Veronica's left arm which made her freeze as tear freely rolled down her cheeks.

"-do you understand?..."

He asked slowly with a crazed smile, Veronica closed her eye's as she weakly nodded her head which seemed to cause the mans smile to grow.

"that's a good girl... now -"

He said before carelessly tossing her to the cold hard ground.

"- run..."

The man said darkly as he tilted his head to give Veronica a done chilling glare, he held his knife in his right hand while he left hand looked like it was prepared to strike as if he had claws, she quickly got to her feet as best she could with her hands bound, but as she finally stood up strait to look at the cloaked man one last time before running, she noticed something behind him. Seeing that his prey wasn't running for it's life he grit his teeth in annoyance and he clenched his left hand shut, the other tightening it's grip on his knife, what good was prey if it didn't act like prey?

"Do you think I'm joking?! Start Running Or I'll Make You Suffer!"

The cloaked man exclaimed as his eye's glowed menacingly, it's then that he noticed that the girl wasn't looking at him.

"You know, it's scum like you that really put me on edge..."

The cloaked man spun around in the blink of an eye to confront the owner of the voice behind him, his knife held at the ready as his body visibly tensed in surprise. Before the cloaked man stood a six foot tall man with silver hair, pale white skin and glowing cyan colored eye's that were looking at him with a cold hardened glare. In his state of shock from the mystery mans appearance he failed to notice the glowing eye's as being strange, and the fact that someone had interrupted his dinner angered him to the point of not caring about the mystery man's appearance. The cloaked man grit his teeth in anger as he glared back at the silver haired man, while he had taken his attention off Veronica she had snuck away to hide behind a dumpster and watch what would happen.

"how dare you interrupt... I ought to kill you right now, but I don't want my meal to get away... consider this a warning, if I ever see you again you're dead..."

The cloaked man turned to go look for his prey but didn't get two steps before he was stopped again as he felt a strong hand grabbing onto his right shoulder. That was the final straw, whoever this guy was just sealed his fate, no human was going to lay a hand on him and get away with it alive, as he turned to face the mystery man and brought his left fist around to throw a punch his world was sent spiralling nearly twenty feet before he found himself slammed into a brick wall leaving a small crater in it before falling to the ground out cold with blood flowing from both his shattered nose and mouth which was missing a few teeth.

"...."

The cyan eyed man stood still as he observed the body against the wall before turning his gaze to Veronica, she flinched slightly, having watched the whole event she didn't know if she could entirely trust this powerhouse of a savoir. Her rescuer smiled warmly before gesturing her to approach.

"here, let's get that tape off you"

He said in a trusting tone, she hesitated for a moment as she regarded the man before her while she stepped away from the dumpster. The guy must have been nearly seven feet tall, he was wearing a white collared buttoned long-sleeved shirt, black jeans, black running shoes, and some kind of metal backpack, even though he was fully clothed she could tell he was fit, would have had to have been to be able send someone flying with that kind of strength he displayed, but what disturbed her the most was he glowing cyan eye's and silver hair. Even though the mans glowing eye's kind of creeped her out, there was something about him that made her feel as though she could trust him.

Veronica approached the man who happened to pick up the knife the cloaked man dropped when he was sent flying, she held out her hands and he carefully cut her hands free, she pulled the tape off her wrists before pulling the tape off her mouth, while she did so her rescuer had tossed the cloaked mans knife into the dumpster she had hid beside. When the tape was finally off she ran up to the cyan eyed man and hugged him, his eye's widened in surprise before he grew a soft smile.

"thank you... thank you..."

She said quietly as sobbed, He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he gently pushed away from her hug

"no problem, next time consider calling a ride home at this hour, or possibly walk with a friend, I don't think I need to tell you why"

He said as he gestured with his head towards the knocked out cloaked man with a slight smile, Veronica nodded with a smile of her own as tears of relief threated to roll down her cheeks.

"wait here, I have to deal with our 'friend' then I'll make sure you get home safely"

The man said as he turned to walk towards her unconscious attacker, she waited where he left her, then a question entered her mind.

"who are you?"

She asked, trying to calm herself down from what happened, the man stopped and looked back to her with a smile.

"The name's Johnathan, or John for short, if we ever meet again you can decide which ever name you wish to address me by"

Veronica smiled at John's reply, she could make a break for her apartment, but she'd rather not run another guy like the one who attacked her again on her way home. From behind Veronica wasn't able to see John's friendly demeanor vanish as a hardened glare was sent to the unconscious form before him that was now waking up. The cloaked man's eye's were glowing red as the world came back into focus form him, only to see John standing in front of him, hatred instantly filled him as he grit his teeth in anger, how dare he, a human, strike him, did he want to die that badly.

"you... You B*stard! I'll Kill You! Do You Hear Me!? I'll F*cking Kill You! And When You're Dead That B*tch Is Next!"

John continued to glare at the man struggling to bring himself to his feet, it was almost sad. Veronica took a nervous step back from the mans threatening tone, even though John was between her the her attacker she was still afraid. As the cloaked man continued to rant John reached into his metal backpack, planning on bringing an end to this monster of a man.

"Do You Hear Me You Son Of A B*tch?!, YOU. ARE. DEA-"

A sickening piercing thud quietly rang out into the alleyway as John's combat knife dug itself deep into the cloaked mans skull, silencing him for good. Veronica flinched at the sound, it was almost too fast for her eye's to follow. John pulled the knife free with ease before giving it a quick flourish to clean it of the dead mans blood, John then put his knife back into his metal backpack before walking away from the corpse, returning to Veronica.

"come on, lets get you home"

Veronica nodded quietly before both of them left, had they stayed a few seconds longer he would have noticed the corpse disintegrate and leave behind a small crystal like rock in place of the body. The walk back to Veronica's apartment was relatively quiet, after they reached her home she thanked him once more before going into the safety of her building, John then went on his way down the sidewalk.

"if it's not midnight robberies, it's crazy people who are literally blood thirsty..."

John said to himself with a sigh as he crossed a street, his hands at his sides while walking down the sidewalk as he kept his eyes and ears open for trouble. Unknowingly John just so happened to be walking on a random course, one that would lead him directly towards the Dangeki Pawn Shop.

Susan’s window breaking was the second most frustrating thing to happen to her today. One moment, she was on one of her folding chairs, struggling to work a gift from a nice Irish man she had met a few years ago, and in the space of a moment her hideaway in one of the penthouse suits of what was apparently a human hotel was filled with the sound of breaking glass, and was lacerated by the hundreds of razor-sharp shards. She didn’t know what broke the window, of course. Susan had learned a long time ago that to not have two sets of portals wrapping around you during down time was asking for trouble. All around her all she could see was thousands of herself, trailing off to infinity in every cardinal direction through the tall ovular holes. Not having such an array up not only was asking for trouble, but was denying oneself the pleasure of being able to scratch your own back without difficulty, though that particular asset would likely not be useful for the next few hours.

The portals protected her from the glass; the fast-moving shards that would have bitten into her skin had been taken in the front of one portal and out its brother behind her, scarring the already-pockmarked wall with a few more scratches to add to the collection. A few pieces of glass that had bounced off the ceiling had dropped on her head through the top of her almost-dome, but they simply dropped harmlessly into her hair and were removed with an idle hand. The sound had a very hard time reaching her, too: only from the hole in her portals directly above her and through the small gaps between the bottom of the dome and the floor did the sound enter her enclave, and the small apertures served to muffle the sound almost completely.

She heard a muffled ‘thud’ against the wall behind her, and she presumed whatever had decided to interrupt her fiddling with this ‘Tetris’ thing had chosen to fling itself at the out-of-place spatial distortion that it shared the room with. Its exuberance had the expected outcome, and she heard a soft growl and another leap, this time landing cleanly on the glass-covered floor almost too quietly to hear. She had to do something before whatever this brute was broke something else. She had worked hard to decorate her abode with the few human articles she could discern the use for, and she would not let some mindless cretin ruin hours of work.

She bent one set of portals slightly around the middle, forming a gap through which she could peer through. She saw the animal clearly enough; a massive hound, its hair looking more like black needles than matted fur. She did not want it in her room, and she did not want to get anywhere near it. Thankfully, that would not be necessary. She opened a portal outside her window, and another right at the feet of the leaping monster. It was smarter than it looked, and quickly moved itself away from the hole forming in the ground. ‘Drat’. Susan expanded the portal to a comfortable size and began to chase the animal around the room.

It was fast, she would have to give it that. Its four limbs, upon which it sat like a malformed, canine spider, were remarkably agile despite their girth. It hopped from floor to wall to ceiling with remarkable speed, and refused to just go through the portal and plummet to the ground. She tried chasing it for another handful of seconds before she realized her efforts were futile.

She closed the portal to her side, decreasing the size of the remaining set of portals surrounding her and spinning them around her body in bewitching orbits. The second set of portals led the same place, and with two sets of pursuing dangers the animal was put on edge. She had nearly caught it twice before the beast found an opening. She had been too greedy, pushing the portals together, trying to catch the animal once and for all, but before doom could envelop it, the monster leaped to the ceiling and pushed itself towards Susan, its gaping maw revealing at least four sets of knife-sharp teeth.

Susan thought quickly, and prepared herself for her worst-case-scenario. She closed her portals as quickly as she could, and with the added control began thinning the orbiting disk into a thin parabola which spiraled around her at blistering speed. The animal’s lunge was predictable, and as she shielded herself with her arms the animal caught on the strand of portal.

The effect, to any unfamiliar observer, would have been anticlimactic. Susan was used to such disappointments, however. A second after she tensed, three thin, slightly curving sections of the animal, lay behind her, spat out by the portal. Already the noxious juices were leaking onto her bedroll. The rest of the animal smashed into her, and she rolled to the side as the rest of the animal impacted the rear end of the twisting strand, throwing yet another set of cross sections at her shins as what was left of the animal crashed into the rear wall, landing on top of the previously-cut slabs. The room smelled terrible, but at least it was no longer full of angry monster. Her clothes had been utterly destroyed, a blue-black dress splattered with red and yellow blood, ruined forever. Weeks of work were ruined, and no doubt she wouldn’t find any peace her, if as she expected these disturbances were pushing the mindless her way. She would need to find another apartment, and fast. She hated being a vagrant, unlike most of her peers. She pocketed the Tetris, grabbed another dress from where it was hanging off a nail on the wall, and set up a portal array to drop her to the ground without incident.

How inconvenient. She almost wished she had just let herself be eaten.

Lei always had to question herself whenever she drove a car during the evening. This was because for the black-haired girl, there truly was little point in evening owning a vehicle when one’s method of travel was far more efficient and economical than one that was tied to a linear plane and susceptible to the fancies of the petroleum industry. But she had to admit, there simply was something about driving a nice car that was hard to replace. Today, for her choice of vehicle, she was driving a quaint black and white Sheriff’s car, complete with vintage livery, a red dome, and a police scanner. It truly was as much as an anachronism as she was, but it was a delight to cruise around in and drop in on crime scenes like the busybody she was. Plus, it was amusing to see the reactions of pedestrians seeing a little Asian girl driving a California Highway Patrol car that was as old as their grandpas.

But of course, when she really actually wanted to go somewhere, she would pull into an empty alley or forcibly remove thugs from an occupied one at her discretion, and port away. Right now was one of these times, and her destination was a small public parking lot behind Zhu Feng’s tea shop. After turning down a secluded road, she popped right over there, sans-car, of course. Why park a nice antique where somebody could key or steal the beauty when she had her own nice private garage with blackjack and hookers?

The casually dressed girl had gotten notice about some commotion at a certain competing used goods shop, so Lei fancied dropping in for some tea and grabbing a nice to-go box of tea related pastries for a future snack. Being somewhat of a regular, she made her usual greeting as she entered the pleasant little tea parlor before being seated. Being in a light mood, she had some chamomile tea, idling around a bit as she read what appeared to be the morning’s paper, chuckling or cringing at some of the town’s local idiots that had made the news.

After a enough time had passed, she had her leftovers wrapped up. Dollars appearing in her hand, she paid in cash instead of credit, of course, because she knew Chinese people loved their untaxable hard dollars. She was also quite aware of the shopkeeper’s unique hobbies, so before heading out, she offered Zhu Feng a ‘ride’ to the pawn shop that should not be named.

Lei didn’t exactly subscribe to the fighting monsters for great justice thing, but if there was something big and interesting to make a fuss about, it was worth following along, especially if she could net a nice new parasol to add to her parasol collection.

"Parasols, huh? I think I'll tag along."

But a single three-letter notification had drawn Tamashi to the Pawn Shop long before the others had arrived. Glorious as the implications of completing an SSS mission were, she had no intention of actually taking the job herself, much less being the first to do so. Rather, she had become fond years prior of awaiting some brave Chaser to take it themselves before offering her services as a 'survival guarantee'. Not everyone was cautious enough to seek her healing prowess amidst a dangerous mission, but many eventually came crawling back... literally.

Tamashi sat herself in an inconspicuous spot of the Pawn Shop, eyeing those that came and went through the place seeking Chaser missions. Until some juicy conversation cropped up, she would remain there, silent and unobtrusive. Either no one would take the SSS job, or she'd simply carry on with her backup money-maker; roaming the Crimson Sky for the wounded and near-dead.

"Perhaps selecting the Rank A would be more profitable," said a deep voice, telepathically, to Tamashi. Unseen by the rest of the shop's occupants, a rather large and formidable fox-like monster lay down just beside the healer. It's head was rested on its paws, eyes but a thin black line as they were shut. "A measly sum of 50,000 coin compared to 1,000,000 is not worth your time, Tamashi."

"I could easily take the A Rank on my own. The SSS is on my eye for its unseen gains. The danger involved... imagine how many might truly perish without me? I shudder to think, like usual, how many souls I could render indebted to myself. There's a steady flow of money involved there that we may not see on the bounty board," Tamashi replied.

"Suit yourself," the fox mumbled. Tamashi's ears perked up.

"So, you're taking the SSS too? I like the cut of your jib, I'm picking it up too. What's your name?" Tamashi heard someone say, just beside the bounty board. This was her chance. Standing up, she proudly strutted towards Geoff and Hoshiko.

"The most difficult bounty available, hm? Very brave of you to go at it with but two individuals. I don't suppose you had any intention of seeking a third... or more, did you?" Tamashi greeted with a curt bow.

Cole stayed with Reiko as she was leaving, but then noticed the others start to come in to the pawn shop, Cole waved the smoke from his face, from when the yokai were smoking earlier and stayed quiet as more of the chasers arrived to the shop as they were leaving out, Cole may have not been a chaser like the others but he could stand toe to toe with any one of them and probably defeat any one of them if he wanted or needed to, but he wasn't here to fight any of them, he was only here for Reiko and her only.

when the Oni arrived and began to approach and greeted Reiko only, Cole turned towards the Oni and put his hands by his sides." So I don't get a hello ? Yuudai ?" Cole asked her, the white haired man didn't really care if she spoke to him or not in the end but wanted to speak to her after enduring a bunch of yokai smoke to his lungs, he coughed once more from just remembering how long he stood in there and from his break from it, Cole took a big breath of air from the outside and exhaled." Ahh, good old air pollution, good enough for the average man like myself." Cole just said in general and not towards anyone." This pawnshop would be better as a small cafe or restaurant, that way the chasers could eat before getting brief and going out, instead of just having tea." Cole pointed out giving his thoughts on the pawnshop being the chaser headquarters." Not that I have a thing against tea, but it would just seem like a better idea if this place was a cafe or something."

Unlike most of the other chasers Cole knew Yuudai since the only other person he really hung around was Reiko really and the other members of Reiko's clan really, but Yuudai was probably the only chaser he knew on a personal level since he actually spoke to her. He stayed at Reiko's side crossed his arms again, he kept his situational awareness of the street outside and mostly there were odd chasers in the pawn shop, mostly they were yokai, but some were completely different and odd in Cole's opinion.

Cole looked around the room as another chaser entered and began to socialize with the other chasers, Cole didn't speak to the other chasers, he felt like he shouldn't since he wasn't really one of them and was only here to back up Reiko, he looked back into the store wondering how many chasers were there for one, and two, he wondered what the hell were half of them, because he knew that most of them weren't Yokai, and only a handful or one was only a human, he wondered what the others could be instead of humans or yokai the idea of machines came to mind but he set it aside knowing that nobody was building robots to only fight crimson veil creatures, if so then the secret of the crimson sky was as secret as a cloud in a clear red sky.

He got onto the bike and injected the key into the ignition starting up the engine." Hey Reiko when are we gonna get moving ? " He asked while looking at her and the Oni standing on the sidewalk, reached down into the side car and took out a motorcycle helmet and held it out for Reiko to grab for her safety really.

~ Removed ~

This was Geoff's worst case scenario. He had hoped he could start working with a single companion, directing her to stay out of his way and function well "together". With this new addition, he would not be able to do this while still being polite. He could see it now: a big team, pushing him into fights that would most likely get him killed and most certainly stop him from learning a thing about whatever was actually going on. Even worse, his hypothetical companions could be too confident and wind up in a terrible situation. A new vision ensconced itself in his mind, of him throwing himself in front of a magical fireball to save someone he didn't want to have around in the first place. An unfortunate way to go, not to mention a poor result for everyone. It pained him to do so, but he felt obligated to ensure he guaranteed the best situation for everyone, which would mean making this demon not want anything to do with him.

Geoff would need to play this well. He didn't return the bow, partially due to his recent hiatus from polite society, and partially because he wanted to appear foreign and slightly obnoxious: the kind of person one would not want to team up with. "I'm afraid I prefer to work in small groups. Three's a crowd, and all that. Though, I can't speak for her". He gestured graciously towards the fellow chaser. As for bravery, you'll probably be disappointed; I' taking this mission only as long as I can avoid the demons." He slipped in the slightly derogatory term. He defaulted to it after his brief stay in Langley, and was betting the specimen in front of him would not take it as foreign academic terminology.

His piece said, he waited and hoped she wouldn't be too insistent.